Four ‘niche’ REITs target specific CRE sectors

RENX  Residential, Commercial  •  Hotels and Resorts, Office, Apartments, Investment  •  National, International

While office, industrial, retail and multiresidential dominate the Canadian real estate investment trust market, a panel at the recent RealREIT conference at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre focused on “niche” REITs and what they have to offer.

Omnia expands into developing with Enticy condos

RENX  Residential  •  Condominiums  •  Greater Montreal

Omnia means “prepared for all things” in Latin, so it’s appropriate 35-year-old Montreal construction management firm Omnia Technologies has added development to its repertoire. The builder kicked off its first downtown project as a developer, the 23-storey Enticy condos.

Edmonton approves 60-storey downtown condo

Residential  •  Edmonton Journal  •  CBC  •  RENX

City council side-stepped the advice of city planners to approve the second of two downtown Edmonton high-rise projects brought before it on Monday. Great Gulf is one developer on the project to build a high-rise tower up to 60 storeys tall.

Brookfield seeks buyout of Oxford’s London offices

Commercial  •  Toronto Star

Brookfield Property Partners L.P. (BPY-UN-T)  is in talks to buy out partner Oxford Properties in a $1.155 billion Cdn office complex in London’s financial district that includes the global headquarters of Schroders Plc, according to sources.

BioWare relocates to 75,000-sq.-ft. Edmonton location

Commercial  •  Edmonton Journal

Video game developer BioWare has upgraded to a massive new office space in Edmonton’s downtown. The 75,000-square-foot space takes up three floors of Epcor Tower and houses hundreds of desks, audio recording rooms and gaming stations.

The People Space › People Space: Melcor’s new CEO, exec shuffle at Chartwell

Don Wilcox: Managing Editor

REM’s A40 station is unnecessary, experts say

Commercial  •  Montreal Gazette  •  La Presse

It’ll be called Station A40, yet it isn’t going to be next to Highway 40. What’s more, three transportation experts say the future REM station isn’t necessary anyway. The A40 is one of the new Montreal stations Caisse is building.

Montreal’s Sun Life Building earns LEED Platinum

Commercial  •  Sustainable Biz Canada

One of Montreal’s most iconic office complexes, the Sun Life Building, continues to pile up the honours. The century-old building has been awarded LEED Platinum certification by the Canada Green Building Council. Platinum is the highest level of LEED recognition.

main + main plans downtown Ottawa high-rises

Residential  •  Ottawa Business Journal

A prime piece of downtown Ottawa real estate a block from a new light-rail station is now in the hands of Toronto-based developer main + main which plans to construct three high-rises containing nearly 900 residential units.

For Ottawa retailers, it’s adapt or perish

Commercial  •  CBC

On Richmond Road in Westboro, once-coveted commercial properties opposite landmark shopping destinations like Lululemon sit empty. On Bank Street near Slater Street, Ottawa’s office district, three doors in a row remain locked tight, a bailiff’s note taped to one.

Home Capital gives mortgage market a boost

Residential  •  Bloomberg  •  Globe and Mail (Sub. required)

Home Capital Group Inc. (HCG-T) plans to issue residential mortgage-backed securities regularly, a sign Bank of Canada efforts to jump-start the market are catching on. The Toronto-based mortgage lender is considering two RMBS deals a year, CFO Brad Kotush said.

Future is mixed-use rental housing: Sonshine

Residential, Commercial  •  Globe and Mail (Sub. required)

All retailers, in their own ways, are going through significant changes, and so are real estate people who serve retail. Ten years ago, we started seeing that online retailing was growing by leaps and bounds.

Manulife’s Dublin office part of Brexit planning

Commercial  •  Reuters  •  RENX

The asset and wealth arm of Canada’s Manulife Financial Corporation (MFC-T) said on Monday it had opened an office in Ireland to expand its European operations and as part of planning for Britain’s exit from the European Union.

CPPIB explores sale of 39% stake in Interparking

Commercial  •  Reuters

Canada’s pension fund CPPIB has hired U.S. investment bank Citi (C-N) to explore the sale of its 39 per cent stake in European car park manager Interparking, several sources said. CPPIB in 2014 bought the Interparking stake for $548 million Cdn.

The landlords most exposed to Thomas Cook’s collapse

Commercial  •  Bisnow  •  Globe and Mail  •  Financial Post

The holiday business has moved online, and it seems hugely anachronistic to think of a tour operator having a high-street presence. However, at the time of its official collapse on Monday, Thomas Cook still had a portfolio of 593 stores.

Google to pump $3.3B into European data centres

Commercial  •  CP Executive

Google has revealed plans to invest an additional $3.3 billion US in the expansion of its European data centres over the next two years. This will bring the company’s total investment in Europe’s internet infrastructure to $16.5 billion since 2007.

Killam, Northview two residential REITs to buy

Residential, Commercial  •  Motley Fool  •  RENX  •  RENX

Residential real estate one of the top sectors to invest in going forward. Two top residential REITS are Killam Apartment REIT (KMP-UN-T) and Northview Apartment REIT (NVU-UN–T). Killam’s portfolio is concentrated in Atlantic Canada, Alberta, and Ontario.

Coquitlam rolls out ‘good neighbour’ construction policy

Residential, Commercial  •  Daily Commercial News

A new city policy by Coquitlam aims to encourage developers to be better neighbours in the community where they are building. Andrew Merrill, the B.C. city’s manager of community planning, explained the goal is prevent issues before enforcement becomes necessary.

TREB encouraged by federal parties’ focus on housing

Residential  •  Globe Newswire  •  Canada Newswire  •  CBC

The Toronto Real Estate Board is encouraged by the attention being paid by federal political parties, during the current election campaign, on key housing issues affecting home buyers.

Regina’s most expensive real estate listings

Residential  •  CTV

PHOTO GALLERY: Here is a list of the five most expensive listings in Regina, according to Realtor.ca